The Gashers – In Trust We Bleed

Rising from the ashes of longtime Las Vegas punk mainstays The Peccadilloes, The Gashers are a three piece whose second full length album, In Trust We Bleed, continues their tradition of delivering old school punk rock to a modern audience. Power trios aren’t as frequently spotted in the punk genre as they are in other similar musical styles like hard rock or metal, but The Gashers come straight out of the gate with a fully formed sound that has weight and flexability in equal measure. In Trust We Bleed boasts fourteen songs with an often offbeat sense of humor that will challenge the repressed and humorless in the best possible way. The raw, energetic performances are matched by intimate production that never lets singers get entirely away from them.

They likewise employ an unique vocal approach – the band boasts three capable singers and they aren’t afraid to exert that talent. The difference it makes in their music is evident in the first two songs alone. The opener “Paralyzed” is far from inert. The band blazes through the track in less than two minutes leaving nothing but scorched earth behind them. The drummer Sandy, however, takes her first vocal turn on the second track “Utopian Misery” and the difference is noticeable. Sandy, if anything, brings a more red-eyed, neck-veined punk edge to the vocals on that track while still maintain the needed steadiness on percussion. There are so many signs of the deep musical well the band draws from all around and any ideas that punk musicians don’t know how to play should be forever jettisoned after hearing these three. There’s a go for broke attitude dominating much of The Gashers’ musical output, but they know how to selectively manipulate dynamics to their benefit without ever veering too far away from their foundation. “Rusted Trust” offer listeners a particularly strong example of this idea in action.

An example of their surprising diversity emerges with “Wasted Few”. This is a lean, narrowly focused riff rocker and expertly spaced. They conjure up hard-nosed street attitude with all the expected effortlessness, but their genuine achievement here and in every other song is wedding it to a musicality that makes the songs work on a deeper level. “Cannibalistic Cows”, surely one of the most unlikely song titles on record, is nonetheless classically tasteless punk songwriting that absolutely no one should take seriously, but it’s nonetheless a rollicking good time. The later track “Puked On” comes from a similar place and hits listeners straight between the eyes with the force of a musical Mack truck. No matter if the band ever turns their lyrical hand towards light hearted material, they present everything with uncompromising sonic force. The drummer Sandy gets the album’s last word vocally with the blink and you’ll miss closer “Curtains”. It is, for all intents and purposes, an extended musical coda, but nonetheless gives In Trust We Bleed a pleasing symmetry. This is one of the year’s most satisfying releases, any genre, and a seminal punk record for the modern age.